Australia is recruiting more overseas-trained doctors to fill doctor shortages. But when a high-income country like Australia does this, we risk causing a ‘brain drain’ elsewhere.
A limited number of specialists are able to diagnose and treat ADHD, making it difficult to even start the process of getting diagnosed. Should GPs play a greater role?
A new review of Australian health care workers’ scope of practice should focus on expanding pharmacists prescribing for stable conditions and long-term medications, under the direction of a GP.
Recruiting health workers from countries on the World Health Organization’s safeguard list without robust and reciprocal benefits for the countries sending them does not meet ethical standards.
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Recruiting internationally educated health workers is a key part of Canada’s proposed solution to the health worker crisis. But there are ethical questions about recruiting from foreign countries.
Australia needs an additional 35,000 aged care workers a year. While skilled migration can play a role, it’s unlikely to be enough to fix the immediate or long-term workforce shortages.
Hospitals are struggling, with ambulances ramping outside emergency departments and patients facing long waits for care. But doing more of the same won’t fix the problem.
While demand for subsidised services is high and rising, many parts of the system need improvement. The federal budget can’t solve these problems by placing the entire burden on taxpayers.
Around 70% of front-line health workers said they were exhausted in 2020. With COVID hospitalisations expected to rise in coming weeks, the pressure is about to get a whole lot worse.
Many doctors and healthcare staff feel the need to practice in richer countries that offer a more stable politics, better education and opportunities for their families.
Julien Harneis
Mark Shrime, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences
India, Nigeria, Pakistan and South Africa lose thousands of trained doctors each year, lured away to work in richer countries – at great cost to their nation’s healthcare systems.
Health education curriculums need to specifically prepare healthcare professionals to respond to a pandemic when it comes to aspects like infection control, aged care and mental health.
Nurses and midwives can make a significant impact in managing and preventing the leading causes of death.
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Adequate numbers of healthy and motivated health professionals are also critical to governments’ effective responses to public health emergencies such as COVID-19.
Rural healthcare services are best supported by midlevel workers.
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Midlevel health workers can provide diagnostic and therapeutic services with lower entry qualification requirements and shorter training periods than doctors.
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne